We all know that if you turn on a light or start up an excavator on site, you are going to generate carbon emissions, but have you ever considered the carbon impact of throwing away that half sheet of plasterboard, or the plastic packaging from that pack of insulation?
As an indispensable part of the built environment, concrete is used twice as much as the total of all other construction materials in the world. Recently, concrete has come out from behind plasterboard and beneath ground to become a high quality technical material of choice. It can be stronger, cheaper, more durable option with low maintenance costs. Designers have embraced its flexibility to allow more uninterrupted floor space and for its excellent light reflective and thermal properties, and local production.
This week sees the launch of the first ever campaign to raise awareness of and tackle the embodied carbon in our built environment. Embodied carbon is the carbon dioxide (CO2) or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the extraction, manufacture, transportation, assembly, replacement and deconstruction of building materials and products.
Construction waste is often assumed to be the result of the building contractor’s inefficiencies, but much of the waste that is produced is actually as a result of the design. More than 80 million tonnes of waste is estimated to have been produced by the construction industry in 2011, therefore to achieve a circular economy with zero waste it is essential that the building, the individual elements within it and the packaging these components arrive in are well designed.
Of all the water on the earth only 3% is fresh water and this is distributed unevenly over the world – often places with the highest water demand for manufacturing have the least water available. I attended a very interesting seminar regarding the future resilience of water at Ecobuild. With the recent UK floods you may be forgiven for thinking that water scarcity isn’t really a big issue. But this is a global challenge and consumer decisions we make in the UK have a big impact on water use in other countries.
Three busy but great days at Ecobuild 2014, the world's leading event for sustainable design, construction, energy and the built environment – a chance to share knowledge, get to the root of sustainable building issues and generate solutions through debate. Throughout the event, BAM was more present than ever before, with a total of five speaking slots, as well as recognition of two high achievers in sustainability and a sustainability project award.
One resolution that should be on every contractor’s list for 2014 is to continue to reduce construction waste.
As designers we strive to create experiences: spaces rather than objects. Good design encourages human interaction, allowing the space to evolve through occupation.
For the second year running BAM has been ranked in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index in the Benelux region, topping our sector (industrials) and second only to Philips. We improved our disclosure score from 93 to 96 points and retained our performance ranking of B. Although there is still some work to do as we aim to reduce our direct emissions further year on year, this is great progress.
Around 38% of all UK emissions are related to heat of some kind and a large proportion to heating in buildings. In schools, heating often accounts for the largest proportion of energy use and emissions.
So, how do you assess and improve the heating performance of a building?